Yay! For someone who isn't recommending supplements to someone who is dying from drug abuse.
You self proclaimed internet gurus aren't doctors and your advice should be taken as such.
Maybe he needs an 5 day insulin protocol to stay on slin for life! That's sarcasm if anyone can't READ my tone.
He's not asking anyone here for help, he's telling his story to help someone who hasn't completely fucked them selves up with drug abuse.
All of the supplements listed in this thread have been clinically demonstrated to do what they do...and just listening to a doctor alone OFTEN isn't the best course of action. Of course, the medical community offers many important services which no bodybuilder should neglect and there are some awesome doctors out there, but your inference that people can't give good advice if they aren't doctors is asinine.
If I would have listened to the last doctor I saw (a cardiovascular specialist with 30 years in the field, by the way) about how to treat my (at the time) "borderline" cholesterol, I would have been taking Crestor right now--idiotic, to say the least. This recommendation was based on nothing more than a single blood test of my lipids, and he never bothered to ask me about my history (aside from if I smoked) or anything else for that matter. In fact, when I tried to provide him with VERY relevant information, he wouldn't even listen to me and literally walked out of the room, all while never taking his eyes off his laptop--because he was too busy looking at what "drug" his reference guide told him to prescribe. This is just one of 1,000's and 1,000's of examples of a doctor giving poor advice.
The general public has received just as much misdirection and deception from the AMA/Big Pharma as it has benefits, and anyone who places their health solely in the hands of these agencies is often making a big mistake. Certainly, there are great doctors out there who are informed about non-pharmacy therapies and willing to recommend them (when it is right to do so), and there are also times where a drug is the best course of action, but there are many instances in which this isn't the case.
If you aren't aware of how the AMA came into being--the reason for its formation--you need to do some research. While my intention here isn't to bash the medical community (because I recognize its value), I also realize that the driving force behind it is money. Back before the formation of the AMA, before Big Pharma ruled the world, the medical community understood and acknowledged the critical link between nutrition and good health...and not just acknowledged it, but placed it above pharmaceutical preparations in many instances. Shortly thereafter, the medical community split into two factions. Why? Because one faction wanted to purposely remove nutrition from the equation and make western medicine all about pharmaceutical drugs...for one reason. To make money--money made from a reliance on pharmaceutical drugs as the first course of action in treating medical problems. The other faction was opposed to this and fought to keep the connection between nutrition and good health front and center, but it ultimately lost out.
From then on (the 1930's) this agenda was pushed forward--the intention being to minimize the link between nutrition and the prevention/correction of health problems and if possible, remove it altogether, while simultaneously convincing them that the cure to everything was found at the doctor's office and more specifically, the RX pad. Medicine was no longer about prevention and correction, but only correction. Even worse, it was now focused on the management of symptoms, not the elimination of underlying issues...because that would actually fix the problem and remove the need for prescription drugs. It is a band-aide approach designed to establish a long-term/life-long reliance on drugs.
This agenda was mostly accomplished by the 1950's...and is still going strong today. Fortunately, with the spread of information via the internet, awareness is increasing and more people are coming out of the dark. The AMA/Big Pharma is aware of this, which is one of the reasons they tried (and are still trying) to have all supplements regulated--to the point where a supplement can't be sold, no matter what it is, unless it has been subjected to the same rigorous research and clinical trials that pharm drugs are subjected to. In other words, if a supplement company wanted to sell pomegranate extract, they would have to spend millions of dollars, which would effectively put an end to just about every supplement company out there. As a result, people could no longer rely on natural remedies and would have only one place to turn when attempting to treat their health problems--Big Pharma.
Regardless, the health care system still functions according to the same flawed, profit-driven model that was set up in the 1930's. You see, Big Pharma can't patent naturally existing compounds, so even if there is a natural alternative that is safer and equally/more effective, they will ignore it (while also attempting to suppress and/or undermine it) and develop a drug-based therapy instead, while charging on arm and a leg.
Intelligent people explore all their options, which means taking what we need (and discarding what we don't) from both the AMA/Big Pharma and nature. Your reasons for being in this thread are not to help anyone, nor do any good. You posted in here for one reason--to be an asshole, and even though a dozen people have all posted up similar recommendations or given their approval (some of whom are well respected people/doctors in this community) you are still acting like a cock. Everyone in this thread is trying to be helpful, except you. That's what we do here. We all contribute in whatever way that we can based on what we know/think we know. If you have doubts regarding someone's recommendations, feel free to express those doubts, but at least do it in a respectful way. Underlying agendas aren't appreciated around here.